I was raised in between two cultures. My father was born in Panama and grew up in North Carolina. My mother is Chinese and grew up in Taiwan. I’m lucky to have grown up in North Carolina with a large family that I spend a lot of time with. Much of my dad’s side of the family lives in North Carolina, so I see them often. My mom and her sister live in North Carolina and their parents lived with us 6 months out of the year for as long as I can remember. Besides them, I have a lot of family in Taiwan on my mom's side. I noticed the differences in my family's culture early on. Growing up, I was always reading and would bring books to family gatherings. My mom’s side of the family would say “Patrick is so smart and studious” while my dad’s side would say “Patrick, reading at the table is rude”. As I got older my social life grew and my grades suffered. My mom would tell me to focus on my studies while my dad was much more lenient. The differences in culture, values, and expectations made for an interesting but confusing childhood. As an adult, I can see that these experiences shaped me into a better person. I no longer try to adapt to a single culture. I reside in the middle, with a unique world view, that was cultivated by two loving families. Patrick is a software engineer at Edlab. His interest in technology started when his father showed him how to make a website. He’s been tinkering with code and electronics ever since. Patrick studied computer science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Patrick loves to play basketball, make music and cook. He also likes swimming and coached youth swim team for over 5 years.